A question I have while reading Eikev centers around the lines ויאכלו את המן אשר לא ידעת ולא ידעון אבתיך למען הודיעך כי לא על הלחם לבדו יהיה האדם.
Why to teach humans that we cannot survive on bread alone, does Hashem feed us only bread (manna) in the desert? I think the key part of this is the idea that “you did not know, nor did your forefathers know” the manna. This is not a kind of bread that was known to the Israelites. It is not something they are used to. They are going out of their comfort zone, trusting that this manna sent from heaven can sustain them physically in the desert. Part of having trust in Hashem is knowing that Hashem will provide for us, but part of having trust in Hashem is also pushing past our comfort zones into the unknown. This is a key theme of this parsha. The Israelites are getting ready to go into a land that, while their forefathers knew it, they did not personally know it. The sin of the spies proved a generation before that they were fearful of going into a land unknown. They did not have the trust they had with the manna, to gather up this new substance and make use of it. Going into eretz Israel was a much scarier task than just gathering up the manna and eating it, it involved facing new foes and trusting that Hashem would have their back.
Looking back on Hashem-given success, this parsha also warns against taking an approach that only focuses on the initiative humans took to go into the unknown. It talks about a person who becomes rich, and forgets that Hashem gave him strength to make wealth. Again, the initiative of man is mentioned with the power of Hashem to help the Israelites- Hashem gives man strength to have this initiative, and helps the person to fulfill positive things for themself. A person should remember both what they did to trust in Hashem, and to take initiative to make a life for themself, and also remember Hashem’s influence, even in them having this strength in the first place.
An interesting parallel to the verse about humans not surviving on bread alone comes from the description of eretz Yisrael later in the parsha.
Even the land is sustained by Hashem’s influence. The water here can be contrasted to the manna. Unlike the manna which stays above ground, the water sent from Hashem is soaked into the land. As much as the Israelites did have to get the initiative to collect the manna, the manna stayed on the surface of the ground. Water, on the other hand, sinks into the ground. The initiative taken to gather water is discussed many times in the book of Bereishit- digging wells becomes a key activity for many of the Avot, and the first time we meet Rivka she draws water from the well. The initiative taken to go into the land of Israel, like the initiative to dig wells and gather water, is not to be taken lightly. It does require great strength and trust in Hashem that everything will go well. But unlike the manna that was not known to the avot and imahot, the initiative to live in the land of Israel is the Jewish people’s heritage, and our destiny. Trusting in the manna, easy but foreign sustenance, was the time of the midbar. Now, in Eikev, the Jewish people are ready to take on the task that was promised to the avot so many years before. They are ready for a task that will take tunneling into reserves of courage and strength from Hashem. They are ready to go from eating the manna they don’t know and their ancestors did not know in the desert, to come to the land that drinks the rains of Heaven like their ancestors before them, to truly show their trust in Hashem’s power.